not be reimbursed. we saw places of worship no matter what their faith, literally shut down. they just could not survive. because they had given their all. with their leaking roof, their nonresources to give food in a place that these people could stay. . in this instance, having walk through the a number of disasters, from 9/11, heinous manmade daster to every hurricane we've had, including the tsunami way across the ocean to see what the natural disaster can do and preclude these places that can legitimately document, i would suggest it be on a reimbursement form. but we can work together to document that what these dollars are used for will be used for the restoration of the physical plant that houses or allows those who are americans who pay taxes and are

contributing to this nation. i ask my colleagues to consider h.r. 592 and how we can make it better. so that it can go forward and help the places of worship, i thank you and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. >> i wish to yield four minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: i thank the gentleman for yielding, i thank the gentlelady for her strong and passionate remarks, i want to thank congresswoman meng for her support of this bill. let me say a couple of points to my colleagues, i will be submitting for the record a fine seasonal sis for tissue analysis for the beckett fund for religious liberty, a law firm that has done yoman's work on this -- yoeman's work on

this, they have written a statement to us members of congress by its leaders, it points out, not only does the establishment clause not support fema's not giving aid too religious organizations. eric russbalk and daniel blumberg have offered a contribution to this debate. ms. meng mentioned this earlier and it bears repeting, in letters of support for h.r. 592, harvard professor says, religious institutions may receive government aid if it is in the context of a broadly

available program that are newt -- with criteria neutral toward religion and poses no religious favoritism. he says once fema has a program in place to aid building reairs, houses of worship should not be exempt from receiving this aid. this is all the more important given the neutral role we have seen houses of worship play without regard to religion to those afflicted in the wake of sandy and countless previous disasters. federal disaster relief aid in the form of social insurance and means of helping battered communities get them back on their feet. churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship are an essential part of the recovery process. religious lib tir scholar, madam speaker, professor douglas lacoc wrote a letter endorsing h r. 5 2 writing

that charitable contributions to places of worship are tax deductible, even though the tax benefits to the donor are like a matching grant from the government. these deductions have been uncontroversial because they were included without discrimination in a much broader category of all not for profit organizations devoted to charitable, educational, religious or scientific purposes. the neutral category here is equally broad. to include places of worship in disaster relief is neutral. to exclude them would be affirmatively hostile. there is no constitutional obstacle to including them. so says again professor lacoc of the university of virginia school of law, a pre-eminent expert on these matters. houses of worship are an irreplaceable part of the pab fabric of our communities.

like any other private nonprofit organization, their recovery is essential to the recovery of neighborhoods, towns and states. they should not be excluded from community programs that ensure community recovery, especially since they so selflessly provide assistance to all in need. this legislation, madam speaker, in conclusion, has been backed by a number of important organizations, including the union of orthodox jewish congregations of america, the united states conference of catholic bishops, national association -- i ask for an additional 30 seconds. mr. barletta: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: the american jewish committee has also supported it, the family research council, as i said earlier the beckett fund and so many others have written very extensive remarks in favor of it. i hope this will be a very strong support nor legislation. it's a malter of inclusion to stop current day, present day exclusion.

i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania had one minute remaining, one and a half minutes. mr. barletta: i want to confirm, the gentleman from west virginia has yielded back his time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from west virginia has yielded. mr. barletta: i know firsthand what happens when disaster strikes at home. my tits -- constituents were affected by tropical storm lee. i want to commend the gentleman from new jersey for his hard work for constituents back home. it's time like this we need to come together in a bipartisan fashion to help americans who need that help. and with that, madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 592? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair,

2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mr. barletta spks madam speaker, i demand the -- mr. barletta: madam speaker, i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise an remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order. h.r. 592, by the yeas and nays. h.r. 267 by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the

vote on the motion of the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. barletta, to suspend the rules and pass h r. 592 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 529, a bill to amend the robert t. stafford disaster relief and emergency assistance act to clarify that houses of worship are eligible for certain disaster relief and emergency assistance on terms equal to other eligible private, nonprofit facilities and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 354, the nays are 72. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. would members please clear the

well. for what purpose does the gentma leader, from california, seek recognition? ms. pelosi: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized, but the house is not in order. please take your conversations off the floor. the house will be in order. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. pelosi: thank you, madam speaker. i rise with great pride to pay tribute to a very distinguished american, a longtime member of the congressional staff, in fact a person who has served the congress for 38 years as a member of the staff. 30 of it for george miller,

eight as my assistant in the leadership office, john lawrence. i'm happy to pay tribute to him, i'm sad because john will be, i don't know if the word is retiring, but he will be leaving service in the capitol. he has always been a great proponent of science, technology, and innovation, and as he concludes his service to the house, it is only fitting to cite the words of alfred lord tennieson as inscribed on the -- lord tennyson as inscribed on the walls of the house science and technology committee. quote, for i dipped into the future as far as human eyes could see, saw a vision of the world and all the wonder that would be. over nearly four decades

serving the congress, john has always kept his sights and his vision firmly on the future. he believed and he knew that the future is about investing in our children, supporting working families, strengthening the middle class. he knew that the future is about protecting our environment and preserving our planet for generations to come. john knew that the future of the house is strengthened by fellow staff members working in a bipartisan way. john has always respected the role -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman will suspend. the house is not in order. the gentlewoman may continue. ms. pelosi: thank you, madam speaker. john has always respected the role-played by our staff on the education committee and on the natural resources committee and the offices of the democratic leader and as my role as speaker of the house and as our distinguished speaker's role as speaker today. indeed, the staff look to him for leadership just as members

look to him for guidance. in that spirit, this afternoon, my colleagues the speaker, thank you, mr. speaker, for making this possible, the speaker and i will honor john lawrence with theon w. mccormack award of excellence on which as declared by former majority leader, then majority leader carl albert in 1970, quote, the name of the house employee who performs the most valuable service for the house will be inscribed. what a fitting tribute to john lawrence's 38 years of valuable service, extraordinary leadership and dedication to the future. we have had the privilege of honoring in a bipartisan way other members of the staff in the congress and john's name will bring luster to that list. colleagues, please join me in thanking a dear friend, my former chief of staff, john lawrence and now i yield to the speaker of the house, mr. boehner. the speaker: this is a day of mixed emotions for the house.

john lawrence, his retirement means we're losing a faithful public servant, one of our own. but we can all agree that john deserves some time off after 38 years of working here in the house. for those of you who may not know john, he is currently the longest serving staffer in the house. john and i have known each other for a long time. since -- going back to my days as chairman of the education and work force committee. and i can safely say that it really didn't matter whether we were on the same side of the page or whether we had opposing views, he always handled it in the same way. with class and integrity. a real -- a real standup guy. john didn't just make an asset to george miller but was also a

great asset to leader pelosi. but it made him a great asset, i think, for the house as a whole and to the american people. so i know, my colleagues and i want to say to john, thank you for all of your service to this house. we're sorry to see you go but we want to wish you and your congratulations. ms. pelosi: with the speaker's permission, i acknowledge

elijah lawrence, the teenage son of john lawrence, and debra lawrence, who is with us in the chamber. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from kentucky, mr. whitfield, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 267 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number four, h.r. 267, a bill to improve hid ro power and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 422. the nays are zero. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. would members please clear the well of the house? will the house please come to order? would members please clear the well of the house? would the house please come to order?

for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> madam speaker, by the direction of the democratic caucus, i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 64, resolved, that the following named members be and are hereby elected to the following standing committees of the house of representatives -- one, committee on agriculture, mr. garamendi. two, committee on the budget, mr. blumenauer, to rank immediately after mr. car daneas. three, committee on oversight and government reform, mr. welsh, to rank immediately after mr. danny k. davis of illinois. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain one-minute speeches. the house will be in order. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches.

the speaker pro tempore: are there any further one-minute requests? under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentlewoman from california, ms. speer, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee -- ms. spier, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. ms. speier: thank you, mr. speaker. this afternoon we will talk

about gun violence prevention and in particular how the national rifle association has systematically unwound laws that have already been on the books. you know, last night the president referenced the fact that since the horrific death at sandy hook there have been 1,000 more people that have died due to gun violence. it is not good enough to wear a green ribbon in support of the sandy hook families and think you have done enough. times have changed and the polling that's been done is overwhelming in support for sensible gun violence prevention laws. and let's be clear at the outset, the heller decision by the u.s. supreme court has made it very clear. mr. speaker, can we have some quiet on the floor, please?

the heller decision made it very clear. every american has the right to own a gun for recreational purposes or to have a gun in their home for purposes of safety, and that is not going to change. we embrace that decision. we support it. but we also support safe laws around the use of guns. so let us begin by looking at this. a survey done very recently, 92% support background checks for all gun purchases, including 91% of gun owning households. 89% support closing the gun show loophole by requiring background checks for all gun purchases. 69% support banning the sell of semi automatic military style assault weapons.

81% favor prohibiting high-risk individuals from having guns, including those convicted of serious crime as juvenile or convicted of violating domestic violence restraining orders. so frank luntz, the republican pollster, polled n.r.a. members and non-n.r.a. members who were gun owners and where did they find out -- and what did they find out? 85% of gun owners and 87% of gun owners believe that they can coexist. that's what we are talking about. 87% of gun owners and 74% of n.r.a. members support requiring background checks of anyone buying a gun. we're talking about that right now. but in a couple minutes i'm going to show you how that has changed among the leadership in the n.r.a.

53% of gun owners and 57% of the n.r.a. members mistakenly believe that everyone has to pass a background check. 80% of gun owners, 79% of n.r.a. members support requiring background checks of gun retailers. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. ms. speier: mr. speaker, can you ask that members take their conversations off the floor? the speaker pro tempore: members, please take your conversations out of the chamber. ms. speier: support barring people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. it surprises most people that they can in fact buy guns. all right. let's move on. let's talk about the c.e.o. of the national rifle association. what did he say in 1999? in 1999 after the cull up bine

shootings, -- columbine shootings, when so many children lost their lives at columbine high school, he said, we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show, no loopholes anywhere for anyone. that's what he said. what did he say after 20 children and six adults lost their lives in newtown at sandy hook? in 2013 he says at a senate hearing when senator leahy says you do not support background checks in all instances at gun shows. . we do not because the fact is the law right now is a failure the way it's working. none of it makes any sense in the real world. we are living in the real world and the real world would suggest to everyone that a commonsense

law is to have a universal background check for much. let's -- for everyone. let's look at the next time we saw a flip-flop by mr. wayne la pierre. again the point being here that the n.r.a. leadership does not reflect the n.r.a. membership. in 1999 after columbine he says we believe in absolutely gun free, zero tolerance, totally safe schools. that means no guns in america's schools, period. on "meet the press" just a few weeks ago, mr. la pierre said, if it's crazy to call for armed officers in our schools to protect our children, then all me crazy. i think the american people think it's crazy not to do it. it's the one thing that would keep people safe. the point here, colleagues, is that the public, n.r.a. members, gun-owning families in this country believe in commonsense

reforms and we owe it to them. we owe it to them to vote on these commonsense bills that will not restrict anyone's ability to own a gun for self-protection or to own a gun for recreation. but will take these assault weapons that are military weapons that are invented for one reason an one reason only, and that is to tear the hell out of anything they come in contact. one law enforcement officer said very recently, the energy in an assault weapon bullet will tear open a brick wall. you don't need that to go hunting. you don't need that to protect yourself and your home. i yield to the gentlelady from new york, carolyn maloney.

mrs. maloney: i would like to yield to my inspiration in so many ways, we share the same name. carolyn mccarthy, on this issue from new york, she is our spokesperson. miss mccarthy: i want to thank my -- mrs. mccarthy: i want to thank my colleagues for having this hour and break up some of the myths out there on what we are hearing, not only in the papers but certainly from so many n.r.a. members. i have been battling this, many of us have been battling this issue for many, many years. i think that what happened just about two months today the newtown shooting happened. and that went through everybody's heart. to think in this day and age that we could have a shooting that totally rips apart 20

children. unacceptable to the american people. unacceptable to the american people. since that, being that we are trying to give as much information as possible to the american people what's happened, since that day, over 2,000 people have been killed. 2,000 americans. they have been murdered. in episodes of gun violence. there are a number of us here, members of congress, that have gone through this kind of violence. either with a loved one, our colleague from california, jackie spiers, we know what this can be to a family. last night we had 25, 30,

unfortunately, victims. and yet here we are debating, hoping even after what the president said, give us a vote. give us a vote. this isn't about us. this is about what our job is. we could have people disagree, and i know it's a lot of tough votes for some democrats, and certainly some republicans. i believe that when we came here and got elected and we swore to uphold the constitution, we knew we would be facing tough votes. who said this was going to be an easy job? it's never been an easy job. but it is a job that the majority of us here want to do.

you know, when the president spoke last night in listening to the aftermath, late last night, on what some of the pundits were saying about what the president was actually trying to do, and we heard the n.r.a. say the reason they are against some of the things that we want to do as far as members of congress and our task force, in a we want to really take everybody's gun away. -that we really want to take everybody's gun away. you know that program we were talking about, the buy back? what they were saying is it's not just a buy back. it's confiscating every single one of the guns. well, i don't think that would hold up actually. and i think that we have put together, in my opinion, a

reasonable, very practical way of reducing gun violence in this country. when you think about it, i also heard last night that assault weapons, long guns it only adds up to 8% of the people that are killed every year. 8%. can we stop putting numbers on everything and remember the faces that we hear? can we remember the people and the families that have lost their loved ones? they are not a number. then they had another chart up that talked about handguns. let me tell you about something about handguns that affects almost everybody in our communities. legislation that we are putting

forward, the background checks, preventing straw purchases which basically is someone else is buying a gun for someone that's illegally barred from buying a gun, think of how many handguns would not be sold to criminals. think about how many lives will be saved. but also let's think about those that have survived gun violence. but many of them, you can think about a lot of the young people in aurora, that had no health care insurance. and i can talk about my own son who was 26 when he was shot with five others, unfortunately his father was murdered that day. i can tell you his medical bills to this day, to this day, they

have cost this country millions of dollars. i will say to you that we were very, very lucky and i have been very, very blessed that he survived. but even back then the doctors said that we would see changes in him as he got older because of the brain injury. and kevin, i can't tell you how proud i was of my son, two years of intensive therapy when they said he would never walk. he learned how to walk. yes, he's still partially paralyzed, but he learned how to walk. they said he would never talk. and when i talk about those days, how's kevin doing? i said he just said -- but, you know, i have spent my life as a nurse before i came here. and a lot of times when we think of patients that have had

strokes and we are teaching them how to speak again, when we say they were talking, trying to get the words out is so hard. every word that comes so -- becomes so difficult. but he had the power to do that. our friend, gabby giffords, who was here last night, to watch, in my opinion, her long struggle reminded me so much of what kevin had to go through. and i will say that kevin went back to work. and he worked for many, many years. but unfortunately he's reached the point now where he can't work. and he had to go on to social security disability. that has hurt his pride so much because of the work that he has done, because all they want to be looked upon and seen as just

a regular person. and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of kevin mccarthys across this country. we are trying to prevent those kind of injuries. background checks, why should anybody be afraid of a background check? why? why should anybody, and again which was brought up in an earlier poster, when you go to a gun show, i remember when we closed the gun show loopholes in new york, gosh we had the n.r.a. all over us. basically saying it's going to ruin the business. i say to you, go to new york and see the gun shows that are held on weekends. there's a big difference, though. nobody can go into that gun show

without buying a gun from a licensed federal dealer. and by the way, the federal licensed dealers, the gun owners, i should say gun shop owners, in this country, they want everybody to go through a background check. because you do have less than 2% of gun stores that are selling these illegal guns or guns disappear. it's ruining their reputations. these are honest business owners. so we are actually protecting them. there's so much that we can go on. it was talked about that people that are on the list, terrorist list, do people know that they can actually buy a gun without a problem? god forbid we should put them on a background check. i mean they are on the terrorist list, but they can go and buy a gun.

i want to thank my colleagues and i want to give them an opportunity to speak, because i know we all care passionately about this, but i certainly will sit here and listen to my colleagues and if we have time, hopefully we can all speak again. thank you for doing this. miss spiers: thank you to the gentlelady from new york for her powerful comments always. now we are joined by the gentlelady from new york, carolyn maloney, who has just introduced the bill, co-authored by democrats and republicans, that deals with the trafficking of guns. mrs. maloney: thank you so much to jackie spiers for organizing this and she has told me she's going to continue working with her colleagues in congress to raise this issue, to focus on it. she's going to try to get us here at least once a week to keep the foe cuss on this

priority of the american people and our president. we see here a number of important information. i think what we should do every week, jackie, is print the names of the innocent children, men and women, who are murdered every day in our great country because of gun violence. because of senseless gun violence like my dear friend's husband and her son was critically wounded and she told me how hard it was for her to tell her son that he had lost his father. i want to publicly thank carolyn for making this a priority in her time in congress and giving so selflessly of her time to help us pass meaningful gun legislation. i'm a co-sponsor of all my colleagues' bills. i think they all are common

sense and important and should pass, but i want to focus on one that i think every n.r.a. member should be for, and that is to take the guns out of the hands of traffickers. people who are selling guns to criminals. to cartels that are used only to kill, whether it's gangs or robberies or whatever they use them for. why can't we do that? why can't we make that a felony and put teeth behind the punishment? this is a bill that when we were having hearings on the fast and furious program and the government reform and oversight committee, law enforcement came and testified, they said help us. trafficking in guns is not even a felony. it's not even a crime. . you can be a drug kingpin selling drugs all over the place and you won't go to jail because it's not a crime. no law-abiding citizen is a

kingpin and trafficking guns. the one thing that's good about this bill and why we have so much support on the other side of the aisle is it conet in any way infringe on second amendment rights. law-abiding americans, if they want a gun for recreation or shooting practice or defense, fine. but these are guns that are being sold to criminals, to thugs who then go out and kill more people. mr. speaker, yesterday in a federal courtroom in las cuevas, new mexico, two people were convicted to smuggle guns to some petty, really bad people, criminals. they had smuggled guns to folks who worked as muscles for a vicious mexican drug cartel. in fact, one of the defendants purchased three semi automatic weapons that showed up a month later at the scene of a triple homicide.

another of the guns, bought at a juarez drug seizure. so these two men were found guilty but they didn't get much of a sentence because it's not a crime. the sad fact is that about all the prosecutors could reasonably hope for in the case, because under federal law, gun traffickers can expect to do about as much time as people who illegally traffic in livestock, illegally sell an assault weapon to a known killer or drug kingpin or sell a chicken without a permit and you can expect to do about the same amount of time for each. this is ridiculous. mr. speaker, there is something dreadfully wrong with this picture. right now people known as straw purchasers can buy multiple guns and immediately resell them to cartels or killers and know that if they are caught they will not be charged with anything but paperwork

violations. law enforcement told us at the committee that they didn't even bother to arrest and try to prosecute straw purchasers because there's no penalty. well, our bill changes that and can give up to 20 years in prison for being a straw purchaser. tragically, this is what happened in my own state of new york last christmas eve. just 10 days after the massacre at the sandy hook children's school, last december in webster, new york, a convicted felon set fire to a house and then set himself up as a sniper to shoot down law enforcement when they came to protect him. he shot and killed two firefighters and seriously injured two others before taking his own life. this is a heart-wreckaging

tragedy, and it is one that -- heartwrenching tragedy and it is one that could not -- but the fact that his neighbor acted as a straw purchaser for him. authorities say she purchased a 12-gauge shotgun and a bushmaster assault rifle. knowingly acting as a straw purchaser for a felon, the neighbor has been charged with the only law that only applies. state and federal paperwork violation. i believe she would not have been buying these weapons for him if she knew she could have faced 20 years in prison. that's why -- what prosecutors have to rely all too often on, a toothless federal law that prohibits, and i quote, engaging in the business of selling guns without a federal license, end quote. little wonder then that according to the a.t.f. straw purchasers is the most common channel of illegal gun

trafficking in america. and believe me, if guns made us safer, we'd be the safest country on earth. we are the most armed country on earth, and we know from statistics that if you own a gun, the degree of probability of being hurt or injured or killed by a gun is 8% to 15% higher than other individuals. it is no surprise then that the u.s. attorneys are forced to decline to prosecute 25% of gun trafficking cases. this is an outrage. this is a crime. this is causing the loss of lives. the investigation can take longer than the sentence that the traffickers might receive. in the wake of recent tragedies, the voice of the american people has been clear on this issue. they want something done and they want it done now. they want us to do something to address this problem. they want something done that

shows some bipartisan cooperation. and as our president said, we came here to do a job. let's have a vote. let's put this bill out on the floor of congress and let's have a vote. if some of my colleagues would like to vote against making trafficking in guns a felony, then let them do it. if some of my colleagues would like to vote against having meaningful penalties for trafficking and buying a -- a straw purchaser buying guns to be given to criminals, then let them do it, but let's have a vote. that's a democracy. i have introduced a bill in the last congress and reintroduced it in this congress. the number is h.r. 452. i hope that the listening public will urge their members of congress to co-sponsor this bill and help us pass it for the american people. it is called the gun trafficking prevention act. it's all -- and it's a

bipartisan bill co-sponsored by my friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle, mr. rigell of virginia, who happens to be an n.r.a. member. he said this doesn't infringe on any gun owner's rights. he owns guns but he wants to go after the kingpins and the murderers and the traffickers. and mr. meehan of pennsylvania, who is a former prosecutor and knows firsthand why law enforcement needs these tools. this bill will help keep guns out of the hands of felons and domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill who cannot and should not be able to legally buy guns on their own. this bill prohibits the purchase or transfer of a firearm if the intent is to deliver the firearm to someone else who is prohibited by law or state law from possessing a firearm. persons who commits this offense is subject to up to 0 years imprisonment. for the first time, our bill

makes firearms trafficking a federal crime, something law enforcement officials have been asking for in hearings, in letters, they have been asking for this for years. and the bill also establishes significant penalties for straw purchasers who buy firearms on behalf of someone else. buy a firearm for a convicted felon and you could look at 20 years in prison. and these increased penalties will provide law enforcement officials with critical tools that they've been asking for. bobby scott knows from his judiciary work is critically needed. the penalties can be used to encourage straw muchers to -- straw purchasers to help prosecutors. go unup the food chain to the cartels and kingpins who have little to fear. and this bill has no impact whatsoever on the second amendment, on legal gun

ownership or purchases. let me say, this bill will not put an end to all gun violence, as the president pointed out in his speech last night. no bill can do that. no bill can prevent any particular act of violence. but we can stop some. we can do something, and we can do this and law enforcement is begging for the passage of this bill. we can begin the healing. we can restore some trust. we can stop putting guns in the hands of criminals, and we can do it, we can do it in a bipartisan way and we can do it together. again, i thank my good friend and wonderful colleague, jackie speier from the great state of california, for organizing this. i will be with you in all your future events. thank you so very much. ms. speier: i thank the

gentlelady from new york for making clear that we are talking about safe and sane commonsense laws on the books, and i'm honored to be a co-sponsor of her bill. i'm just going to take a minute and go through a timeline of what has happened under the n.r.a.'s leadership in terms of the unraveling of laws that have been on the books, but because of the n.r.a.'s leadership, they have been unraveled. let's start with the very first one. between 1980 and 1987, the number of a.t.f., these are alcohol, tobacco and firearm agents, was slashed by 21%. from 1,500 to 1,180 and the number of inspectors dropped from 655 to 626. what was happening during that period of time? well, during that period of time, there were more and more dealers. so why would the n.r.a. be so interested in reducing the

staffing of the a.t.f.? in 1986, the firearm owners' protection act was passed. again, sponsored by the n.r.a. it set a high burden of proof to prosecute violations of federal gun laws. it limited a.t.f. inspections to one a year. once a year. and weaken the penalty. it allowed unlicensed individuals to sell their firearms as a hobby, avoiding meaningful regulations and leading to an increase in gun shows. so what does that mean when you have to establish a standard that is so high that you end up not revoking any firearm dealers license? well, willfully, not knowingly, but willfully violating gun safety laws as a standard now on the books. extraordinarily high standard.

and the loopholes that were created allowed for dealers to hand off their businesses even when they had these horrendous violations to relatives or to convert their inventory of guns into a, quote, personal collection which they then could sell because it was now a hobby without doing background checks. so let me give you one example. the example is sandy adams -- excuse me -- sandy abrams. he was a member of the n.r.a. board of directors. he was cited with over 900 violations of federal firearm laws. at his shop, the valley gun, and 483 crime guns were traced to his shop. this is an n.r.a. board member that violated the laws 900 times and 483 crime guns were

traced to his shops. what does the n.r.a. do? the n.r.a. in a subsequent bill banned the tracing of crime guns. so what happened to him? well, the only power that a.t.f. was to revoke his license. so what did they do? no criminal charges were ever brought. abe ams transferred it to his legal possession and was cited for selling it from his person. the firearms owners' protection act. we then moved on to the dickey amendment in 1996. what did the dickey amendment do? the dickey amendment held that the c.d.c. could no longer do

research and conduct public health research. now, why would the n.r.a. be so concerned about research going on? because when you do research you can link it, and it can create the opportunity for public policy decisions that are in fact thoughtful. then came the famous tiahrt amendment in 2004 that placed restrictions on law enforcement, limited access to crime gun tracing data, required approval background checks of 24 hours only. that amendment said that if you're going to do a background check, you can only have that document in place for 24 hours and then it has to be destroyed. so to the point made by our colleague from new york about what are called straw purchasers, how would you know if there was a straw purchaser if you had to destroy that record in 24 hours? and then in 2004 came the

assault weapons ban sponsored by senator dianne feinstein and the chair then of the judiciary committee, our good vice president was also the shepherd of that bill. in 2005, protection of lawful commerce in arms act. this was heralded by the n.r.a. as being their biggest get ever because that particular bill became law and it protects gun manufacturers from civil liability suits. the only industry in this country that is not subject to civil liability suits for dangerous equipment and the like. . the sandy hook families are stymied because this law is in place. now, there is no protection for auto manufacturers that they have unsafe products, but we have given carte blanche

protection to the manufacturers. then in 2005 the u.s. patriot act, what did we do there? then the n.r.a. decided that, you know what, that a.t.f. director shouldn't just be appointed, it should be confirmed by the senate. so in the patriot act they got an amendment that provides that the a.t.f. director must be confirmed by the senate. guess what happened? there hasn't been a a.t.f. director confirmed in seven years. because of the control that they exhibit. and then in 2005 ironically george w. bush, that's something his father didn't even do, his father, george h.w. bush, by executive order, banned the importation of guns in this country. particularly the assault weapon.

when president clinton came into power he by executive order expanded that importation ban to include high capacity magazines. george w. bush comes in as president and he lifts the ban on the importation of assault weapons. between 2009 and 2012, we have had 99 gun safety laws rolled back at the state level. that's what the n.r.a. is doing. i now yield to my colleague from rhode island for his comments. mr. cicilline: thank you. i thank the gentlelady from california for yielding and organizing this conversation about the dangers of gun violence and our responsibility to reduce guns violence in communities across this country. i want to also acknowledge the leadership of the gentlelady from new york, carolyn mccarthy,

who long before i arrived here was an inspiration to me and so many others across the country who have been fighting for responsible gun safety legislation. just to give a context of the problem we are confronting, the united states gun murder rate is about 20 times the average of other developed nations. what that means is if someone in this country is about 20 times as likely to be killed by a gun as someone in another developed country. and some have already said, since the horrible, horrible killings, murders of newtown, 1,772 people have been killed by guns since that tragedy. according to the c.d.c. there were 11,078 firearm homicides that accounted for 68% of all homicides in 2010. these are just some numbers that i think give us an understanding of the seriousness of the problem we fight -- face with gun violence in this country. it's a epidemic.

and i salute mayor bloomberg and others who began, was a founding member, i salute the brady campaign for their work. but there are a couple of facts which are undeniable. number one, the second amendment gives individuals the right to possess a firearm. the vast majority of gun owners are responsible and they possess firearms for their self defense and -- self-defense and own frokes. that's a fact. two, there are certain categories of individuals we all agree not to have access to firearms. dangerous criminals, the seriously mentally ill, and children. so if we agree on those facts, guns are permitted by the constitution to be possessed by individuals, three categories of individuals at least not have access to those firearms, then we have a responsibility to design a system and pass laws that ensure that those three categories of individuals in fact don't get -- don't have access to firearms. and we have the ability to do that by closing the gaping

loopholes from private sales and from the fire sales that the gentlelady from california just referenced where you have your license to sell guns, your federal license is revoked, that you are rewarded by having your entire inventory turned into a personal collection then you can sell it free from the constraints of background checks. be sure that states are putting accurate information into the system. we can ban assault weapons which are weapons of war, which don't belong in the neighborhoods of our cities and towns and high capacity ammunition whose only purpose is to kill a great number of people in a very short period of time. we have these very reasonable commonsense solutions which are available. last night at the president's state of the union, we had 30 victims who suffered the grievous impact of gun violence. who put a face on the devastation, the scourge of gun violence in this country. we owe it to them, we owe it to families all across this country

to move on this legislation, to hold a vote, up or down, so woo can take what most americans support, responsible gun safety legislation to reduce gun violence in our country. when the gentlelady was just going through the examples of what the n.r.a. has been successful in doing, let's not forget, the n.r.a. doesn't have a vote in this chamber. so every single one of those actions happened because individuals in congress voted for them. they should be accountable for that. we could fix it by taking votes today to enhance public safety to impose reasonable gun safety measures that will protect children and families all across this country and continue to honor the right of individuals to possess a firearm guaranteed in the second amendment. i guarantee the gentlelady for her leadership and yielding. "the new york times" had a headline that said do we have the courage to stop this? talking about the carnage in newtown. the courage that family members have displayed who have been victims of gun violence.

if we can match that courage, members of this house can match just 10% of the courage that they have demonstrated in sharing their stories, we'll do the right thing and pass responsible gun legislation. i yield back and thank the gentlelady. ms. speier: i thank you for your extraordinarily sound comments on this issue. as you were saying that in talking about courage, i remember recently having the opportunity to listen to a family from newtown who lost a child who said to me and others, you are just a bunch of talking heads. can't you two groups get together and do what's right? with that, let me yield to the member of congress who represents that extraordinary community and who has done so much to help them heal from what has been a devastating impact on not just everyone in the country but particularly those families in newtown.

>> thank you so much. ms. esty: i want to thank you for your leadership on the gun violence protection issue and congresswoman mccarthy for your tireless effort, sadly over decades now, to ensure that this congress, that this congress takes action to keep our community safer. last night in this chamber people affected by gun violence, including a number of families and officials and first responders from newtown were here in this chamber. i have the honor of representing the small brave town that now finds itself at the center of this national debate. they are the face, they are paying the price of our

political inaction. among the people here last night was an educator by the name of natalie hammond. natalie was the lead teacher at the sandy hook school that day and she was in the hall trying to stop that madman and her colleagues on either side were killed and she was seriously injured. and she got out of physical therapy and came out publicly for the first time to be here last night to put a human face on the cost of inaction. these people, as the gentlelady from california suggested, as "the new york times" has suggested, and others, are so courageous and they have one question for us, what are we going to do? what is this country going to do to address this epidemic? the president spoke eloquently, yet very directly last night

about how we must do better as a country. as he said the families of newtown deserve a vote. he is right. commonsense measures that respect second amendment rights, like universal criminal background checks, a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, and restrictions on high capacity magazines, should at the very least be voted on in this chamber and in the senate. the voices of the american people should be heard in this congress. it's up to us. it's up to us as elected leaders to see that these families, that every family touched by gun violence has a vote. lynn and chris mcdonald, the parents of grace mcdonald, were here in the chambers last night as witness to their daughter who

loved pink, who did a beautiful painting which they gave to the president of the united states. the mcdonalds asked me this morning, they said, elizabeth, what more can we do to ensure that congress acts? and i was astounded by the question. to think that this grieving family, what more could they do? it's what more must we do. they are doing everything they can to make sure that every member of congress understands not only their loss, their loss is america's loss, because every child that was murdered, every loss on the city streets of our country is a loss that ripples throughout families and communities. lives we will never know what these people could have done, could have contributed to our society. and it is an enormous hole in

the fabric of our country. the price of inaction is too high. the price of inaction is being paid every day by greefing -- grieving parents like lynn and chris mcdonald. i want to thank again the gentlelady from california for all you are doing to ensure we do the right thing here today. that we continue the discussion of this critical issue. that we do not lose our will to take action. and that we do bring about real change to save lives in our communities across this country. the parents, the families, the children of newtown deserve no less than our best effort. we must act. thank you very much. ms. speier: i thank the gentlelady. mr. speaker, i understand that you have a message from the senate. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the president of the united states.

the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: mr. secretary. the secretary: i am directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. ms. speier: mr. speaker, thank you. can i inquire as to how much time we have left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady has 13 minutes remaining. ms. speier: all right. it's now my pleasure to yield time to my good, good, good friend and colleague from california, who has been an outspoken advocate for gun violence prevention for decades, barbara lee. ms. lee: thank you very much. first of all let me thank you,

congresswoman speier, for bringing us all together today to speak out on the important issue of addressing gun violence, not next month, not next year, not next congress, but right now. and i have to just thank you so much for your tremendous leadership. yourself and congresswoman mccarthy, both of you have so eloquently laid out why we need gun violence safety measures. both with your intellect and with your heart. both of you have shared your very painful experiences, really basically so that others can live rather than die from gunshots. thank you so much for staying the course. i can think of no more important subject than what we are talking about today because gun violence has been destroying communities, taking lives, and injuring too many people for much too long across america. as president obama invoked in his state of the union speech

last night, the families grieving from losing loved ones, from gun violence, deserve a vote. in fact, though, we are saying they deserve more than a vote. they deserve concrete steps to reduce gun violence, and we can take those steps right here in congress. . not one in newtown, not one in chicago, cleveland, not one in my district in oakland, california. not one in any town, any city, any school, any theater or anyplace of worship, mall or neighborhood. we have an obligation to our children to ensure and we must come together to build and america where our children don't have to live in fear and where they really believe that they have a future. many of my young people in my district don't even think they

have a future. and this is a very sad state of affairs that we've got to turn around. recently i had an event in my district in west oakland. it was the unveiling of a measurial painted by several -- murial painted any several townspeople. it depicted the hope and faith of a future without violence. yet, they still have a lot of hope and they're counting on us here to make sure that their dreams live. too many of my constituents have been affected by gun violence, have pleaded for help and protecting their children from the horrors of gun voy lens only to see the stat -- violence only to see the status quo at the federal level. they need to take some serious action, that is what we heard today, and i'll reiterate, commonsense measures such as the federal gun buyback

programs, banning high-capacity magazines, expanding the 24-hour background check, closing the gun show loopholes and reinstating the assault weapons ban. we need to do this immediately. but we also need to work to end domestic violence in our home and re-authorize the violence against women act. we must do this right away. we must seek input from our faith community leaders and others. we can't -- we can work together to identify the root causes of this nation's more than 16,000 homicides a year. let me call to your attention the work of a magnificent community-based organization in my district that i actually am very proud of that i helped create in the early 1990's called the martin luther king freedom center. these people work on conflict resolution and violence prevents efforts day and night but they constantly tell us that their work is thwarted by too many guns on the streets.

we have to repeal the tiahrt amendment, which i know congresswoman speier and mr. moran and myself and other appropriators are working to do and we must, as part of this, rededicate ourselves to getting the guns off the streets and working for finally a culture of peace and security. thank you, again, for your leadership. ms. speier: thank you to the

orders that need to be addressed at a very early age. that's not say -- there's many reasons why we need to go and time does not allow me to go into it. now we hear that -- what is the cost of society and to the law enforcement -- and they say they are very much in favor of controlling the guns on the streets. the high capacity, the assault weapons, and women are highly in favor, as you can tell, most are women, who understand this is our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors,

our friends who are impacted, and we need to be able to fund mental health services at the local levels so it can be addressed and help can be found for them. i introduced the mental health in schools act, which was a companion to senator franken's senate bill 195, but i must ask very quickly that public has got to raise their voice. email, fax, mail, phone your member of congress and tell them we need to pass reform. thank you very much. ms. speier: i thank the gentlelady from california. i now am welcoming our new colleague from california, a colleague who i served in the state legislature with more many years, congressman lowenthal. mr. lowenthal: thank you for bringing us together to talk about this important issue. we need to put forth

responsible solutions to reduce gun violence in our communities and throughout our country. it was my honor yesterday to tell you -- to introduce peggy mccrumb, the chapter leader of the long beach area brady campaign to prevent gun violence. at yesterday's conference hosted by the brady campaign and mayors against illegal guns. three decades ago her brother, robert kelly, was shot and killed by a complete stranger as he walked to his car. unaware that any peril awaited him. peggy's brother, robert, the victim of tragedies like -- that occurred in newtown and aurora's mass shootings, the thousands of americans whose lives are ended each year by gun violence, should serve as a reminder to all of us about the fragility of human life and our ability as members of congress to enact commonsense

legislation necessary to prevent such horrific tragedies from continuing to devastate innocent americans. i stand here today in total support of a ban on military-style assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, similar to the gun laws that we have in california. these instruments of mass destruction have no place in our society outside of the military. and i thank my colleagues on the gun violence prevention task force, especially congressman thompson and congresswoman pelosi for leading the charge on this effort. the tragedy of gun violence will not be solved by banning assault weapons and magazines alone. we must strengthen our current background check system as well as the instant criminal background check system. we must increase access to mental health services. we must increase the student ratio in the schools and we

must lift the bans on the centers for disease control and the national institutes of health. all of these commonsense proposals are crucial to achieving the meaningful reforms that will save countless lives. as a community psychologist, i understand that early identityification and treatment of mental illness -- identification and treatment of mental illness is the key to preventing harmful acts. that being said, i'm proud to cosponsor congresswoman barbara lee's student support act as well as congresswoman napolitano's mental health in schools act. both of these bills will address the growing mental health needs of our nation's 95,000 students. i do not, i repeat, i do not believe in taking away any american second amendment rights. just as you cannot yell fire in a movie theater, i believe you cannot own and use weapons that are capable of killing 20 schoolchildren in a matter of seconds.

to conclude, i think we all must continue to listen to those that have been -- who have been injured by gun violence, to survivors, to law enforcement and even to those -- to those that speak out against gun law reforms. we will not be able to reach common ground on this issue unless we keep an open mind to all of the voices in america. thank you and i yield back my time to the gentlelady from california. ms. speier: i thank the gentleman from california for his thoughtful remarks, and i want to thank each and every one of you who have participated in this special order. it's something that we must do week after week so that our message gets out to the american people and so that they truly understand what has happened in this country over the last 20 years and has taken away so many commonsense laws that are on the books to provide the kind of safe and sane laws to make sure that

everyone who owns a gun has it appropriately, everyone who doesn't own a gun doesn't get it. pass the universal background check, pass the assault weapons ban, cut down on drug trafficking, remove the gag order on gun safety research, keep illegal and unwanted guns off the streets, invest in gun safety technology r&d, close the holes in our mental health system and take steps to enhance safety. some said too many children are dying, too many children. we must do something. it will be hard, but the time is now. you must act. be bold. be courageous. americans are counting on you. the words of our own gabby giffords in the senate just a couple weeks ago. it still sends shivers up and down my mind.

gabby almost lost her life. we owe it to gabby. we owe it to the 26 people who lost their lives in newtown, the countless others that lost their lives in aurora and columbine and the 32 people each and every day in this country that lose their lives to gun violence. we owe it to the american people. let's act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair -- the gentlelady from california yields back her time. the chair lays before the house a message. the clerk will read. the clerk: to the congress of the united states. section 202-d of the national emergency act, 50 u.s.c., 1622-d provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration. the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.

in accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency can he cleared in executive order 13566 of february 25, 2011, is to continue in effect beyond february 25, 2013. colonel muammar gaddafi, his government and close associates took extreme measures against the people of libya including by using weapons of war, mercenaries and wanton violence guns unarmed civilians. in addition, there was a serious risk that libyan assets would be misappropriated by gaddafi. members of his government, members of his family or his close associates if those assets were not protected. before going circumstances the prolonged aattacks and libyans seeking refuge in other nations posed a serious risk in its

stability and led me to declare a national emergency to deal with this threat to the national security and foreign policy of the united states. we are in the process of winding down the sanctions in response to developments in libya, including the fall of gaddafi and his government and the establishment of the democratically elected government. we are working closely with the new libyan government and with the international community to effectively and appropriately ease restrictions on sanctions, entities, including by taking actions consistent with the u.n. secretary council's decision to lift sanctions against the central bank of libya and to other entities on december 16, 2011. the situation in libya, however, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the united states, and we need to protect against this threat and a diversion of assets were abused by certain members of gaddafi's family and other

former regime officials. therefore, i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to libya. signed barack obama, the white house, february 13, 2013. the speaker pro tempore: the message will be referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed. and announces to the house her approval thereof. -- spounsspuns -- under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from texas, mr. neugebauer, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. neugebauer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and put in extraneous material. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. neugebauer: i rise today to honor a great american hero, chief petty officer chris kyle, who unfortunately was killed on february 2. normally you would think that this would be honoring a soldier that was killed in

action. unfortunately chris kyle gave his life while trying to help a fellow soldier who was dealing with some big issues. and so today, my colleagues and i want to spend the next hour honoring the life and the sacrifice that chris kyle did and gave for his country. this is a difficult time for me, not only to honor chris like this, chris kyle was not only a navy seal hero but also a personal friend of myself and my family. our warmest wishes and prayers and thoughs go out to the family in this difficult time. this will be a time today where we're going to reflect on chris' life and we had a tremendous outpouring of people who wanted to share stories about chris, and we're going to

share some of those. but i know chris would have wanted this to also not be necessarily about him, but for the country that he fought for and believed in and loved so dearly. chris was all american. everything that he did, his service to his country, was about his love for he country. but not only did chris love his country, he loved his family. he loved his friends. and he loved his wife and children. and so i wanted to talk just a little bit about chris' career. chris spent 11 years as a seal team member, member of seal team three. his record is nothing but superb. he retired in 2009 and when he retired, he had 255 kills with 160 of those confirmed by the

pentagon, making him the mosley that will sniper in american history. one thing about that is that chris was very unassuming and i remember knowing a little bit about his background but then meeting chris for the first time and how humble he was and how down to earth he was. he didn't really talk about records, he talked about people. he talked about what his job was, was to protect his fellow soldiers. his ability in the battlefield was unmatched. his longest shot came in 2008 when he identified an enemy insurgent that was about to launch a rocket near an army convoy. from 1.2 miles away, he fired his .338 magnum rifle and killed the insurgent, potentially saving the lives of countless americans. chris was rewarded -- awarded countless honors for his

various he earned two silver starks five bronze stars, two navy and marine corps achievement medals and one navy and marine corps commendation. he was admires by people really all over the country. on this monday, about 7,000 or 8,000 people gathered in the dallas cowboys stadium in dallas, texas, to come and pay their respects for chris kyle. it was a great loss for our country, a great loss for his friends and family. but you know, they weren't just honoring an american hero. they were also honoring a husband, a father, a son, a team member, a comrade. chris was born in texas, the son of a devout christian. he's survived by his wife and

two children, whom he loved and cared for deeply. in fact, he made the decision to leave the navy in 2009 just so he could spend more time with his family at home. and after retiring from the navy, chris founded craft international, a military and law enforcement training company. he was involved in numerous charities, including co-founding fit cares event, and other events benefiting disabled service men and women returning from combat he wrote "the new york times" bestseller entitled "american sniper" which chronicled his time as a seal sniper he donated the proceeds to the families of some of the comrades that died with him in combat. these example show that the sense of service was genuine and deep he lived by the motto that it's our duty to serve

those who serve us, it's our duty now as american citizen it is remember this -- to remember this young man who served so bravely, to pray for his family in a time of mourning. america lost one of its finest sons and true patriot. we keep chris and his family in our thoughts and prayers and we ask god to look after them. we also pray for his friend chad littlefield, kill aid longside chris, and for his family. i'm honored to have known chris and while he was on this earth -- while he left this earth at a young age, we know that god is watching over him. before i yield, i wanted to just make one point about the book that chris wrote. "american sniper." it was a great book. it really chronicled the sacrifice and the conditions that a lot of our young men and women are under while they serve. but what was also an important part of that book was that

tambings ya would chronicle from time to time what it was like to be serving alongside chris in a different capacity, that is as a spouse of one of our deployed men and women and the pressures that are involved in that, the stresses and the separation. and i think it's a great tribute to chris and to her to share that intimacy with us so that we can come to greater appreciate his service and her service to our country. it's now my pleasure to recognize another gentleman from texas, mr. barton from texas, who chris lived in his congressional district. i yield to the gentleman five minutes. mr. barton: i thank the gentleman from lubbock for yielding. i'm proud to be part of this special order. i want to say at the very beginning that unlike congressman neugebauer, i did not know chris kyle or chad littlefield, the other

individual who was killed. they both lived in my congressional district in midlothian, texas, and the tragedy of both of their early deaths is equal. although i didn't know either one, i have studied up on them and i went to the service, the memorial service at cowboys stadium and was very moved by the eulogies and the people's remembrances that did know them. i would like to say with regard to mr. littlefield, he, too, was a lifelong texan, born in dallas and went to high school in lancaster. i mean desoto. he would have turned 36 monday.

his funeral was at the midlothian first baptist church friday. he is survived by his wife, leann, a middle school principal in midlothian, and i believe a daughter. so our hearts go out to that family too. with regards to chris, you could not have attended the service on monday in dallas, i mean at cowboys stadium, and not come away very impressed. the press reports are that there were 5,000 to 7,000 in attendance. i have done a number of events at cowboys stadium. i asked the head of security for the cowboys, who i know, what they estimated the crowd, they said about 11,000. as mr. neugebauer already pointed out, chris was an individual who was driven by a love for his country and a love

for his fellow man. i though it was telling at the service that the mother of one of his navy seals who had been killed in combat, chris adopted her as a second mother and asked that the proceeds of his -- at least some of the proceeds of his book, "american sniper," go to her family. i mean that to me is just amazing. the president of kraft international also spoke at the service and he spoke about how much chris, you know, he cared about other people and i think it's very telling that chris kyle and chad littlefield were both killed trying to help another troubled veteran. they were taking the suspected murderer to a gun range over

in, i think near glen rose, texas, and trying to help him work through some problems and he -- the person they were trying to help turned on them. so he died trying to help another person who was in need and that's something that his family can be very proud of. i think another thing that we need to say about chris is, when people met him, they liked him and wanted to help him. the number of people who helped in these service arrangements goes, runs the gamut from the governor of texas, governor perry, who helped arrange the cemetery plot at the texas state cemetery in austin. ierry jones and his family, the owner of the cowboys. i think -- jerry jones and his family, the owner of the cowboys, donated the use of cowboys stadium and were in attendance. all the law enforcement

agencies in the d.f.w. area helped arrange the cavalcade from midlothian to austin and i'm told at almost every overpass on interstate 35 and u.s.: 287 there were people -- and u.s. 287 there were people showing flags and in attendance and there was just an outpouring of love and affection that in my knowledge in the congress is just unheard of for somebody who was not a public figure. and chris was not. he was a public patriot but he was not an ostentatious, grandstanding kind of person. he loved his family and loved his two children, loved his wife, loved his mother and father. and he loved those who he served with in the military as mr. neugebauer pointed out, he served a number of tours in iraq and afghanistan and one of

the stories that's in his book, he was under orders not to fire unless fired upon and in order to get the enemy so he could shoot them he put an american flag and stood up and basically dared them to take a shot at him. and i think this is correct from the book, when they started shooting at him, he got everybody that shot at him, he silenced them. so congressman neugebauer, you're to be commended for organizing this special order. i'm proud that chris kyle and chad littlefield were constituents of mine. i'm very proud their families still live in my district. myself and my staff will do everything we can to help them and we will cherish the memory of chris and chad for many, many years. with that, i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy and i yield back to him. mr. nuge pawer: i thank this -- mr. neugebauer: i

mr. neugebauer: one thing about chris, people would want to talk to him about the railroads he set, he would shake that off say, my service wasn't trying to get a record, my service was trying to help my country and my job was to make sure the bad guys didn't get my guys. i think that's the kind of guy, man that he was. one of the things that the gentleman mentioned was the motorcade from dallas yesterday to austin, to the texas cemetery. i saw some of the video of that. it was just amazing the patriotism all along that almost 200 mile trek of people that wanted to express their appreciation. many of them never met chris kyle, but they knew what he stood for and what he meant. as we go along, before i

recognize another great patriot from texas, i wanted to read some of the emails that have been pouring in to me. this is one from jim defleece, co-author of the "american sniper" book with chris. he sent an email, i'm going to read a little bit. he said, of my memories of chris, the one that sums up the kind of man he was, on the morning of hurricane sandy i was going out to check on the damage to our house in the neighborhood. i received a text message from him asking if i was ok and if he needed anything. even though he was over 2,000 miles away, i knew that if i asked for help, he would have thrown a bag in the back of his pickup and driven up within the hour. it was that kind of spirit and everything he -- in everything he did that made chris a great warrior, a great seal, and a great american and i am grateful to have known him. it's now my honor to recognize

mr. gohmert, the gentleman from texas, for any words he might want to speak. mr. gohmert: thank you. i thank my deer friend from texas -- my dear friend from texas for having this time and for honoring such a great american hero. chris kyle clearly loved his country, he loved his family, he loved those with whom he served and was willing to lay down his life for his friends. every time he was committed to hostile theater, he knew he may be laying down his life for his friends. he also knew that the ultimate authority on love, jesus, as

quoted in john 15: 13 said, greater love hath no one than this, chris had that commitment every time he was in a hostile area. he was willing to do that. and the fact that he gave up his life trying to help another service member who was suffering from mental problems still is an act of laying down his life in service for others. he did it for this country, he did it for his friends, he did it for those, including the gunman that took his own life. it was a very moving service.

i don't believe it was broadcast, but for all of us who were there, we were deeply moved. the show of support and love and affection for an american hero was deeply touching. chad littlefield, same situation. a man that was willing to lay down his life for his friends and he did. i think most people, mr. neugebauer, have heard and read about this extraordinary man, chris kyle, his service to the country. three silver stars, frife bronze stars. what -- five bronze stars. what an incredible, incredible service to this country. he deserves a tribute being brought and much, much more. but i would like to say a little bit about the sacrifice of some american heroes who

don't always get recognized as heroes. in chris' case, his wife, tea, and their two children, sweet little notes on the bulletin at the funeral that they had written. his parents, it was an honor to meet chris' parents. but we don't often think of the families and what they've laid down. they have lost a father, husband, a friend, a confident, a man that would do anything for them. they have paid an ultimate sacrifice. i was reading some years back in -- actually it's a journal basically that c.s. lewis had written after his wife died, and one of the entries he was

talking about how much he missed his wife, how much he wished he had her back and then he realized how selfish that was because she was in paradise and his act of selfishness was to want a loved one to come back into a world that that loved one would only have to someday again die before they could return to paradise. i believe with all my heart that chris, as a christian, is in paradise. he's greatly missed, and especially by those closest to him that paid that ultimate price. we wish he were back, but then he would have to go through that process again. c.s. lewis said, he -- he said, we've always heard that steven was the first martyr, but

didn't laz russ get the rawer deal? and i never thought about it before. jesus, we're told lays lazerus did, and we can't find anything in scripture of him saying anything because he might have said something like, i was in paradise and you are bringing me back here now? but nonetheless, chris has served honorably and well. he's greatly missed, and we should not forget the family members of those who have lost loved ones in service to this country. he's paid an ultimate price, his parent, his wife, his kids, his brother. obviously his brother southerly misses chris. so a trish -- sorely misses chris. so a tribute to chris, for those that have sacrificed in giving their loved one, chris, for our country. and i yield back to my friend,

mr. neugebauer. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman. i think the point that you make is extremely important about our families. as members of congress we get an opportunity in many occasions to travel to the theater and to thank those men and women that are deployed and for their outstanding service to their country. i know that my colleagues also do the same thing i do and that is when you are around their families you understand, they understand this is a team sport and it's those families that support our military folks back home, keep the home front going while our men and women do the job that we ask them to do, it's an important part to making sure that america has a strong defense. i got an anonymous email of a person that wanted to express their thoughts about chris. he says, when veterans ask for help or wanted to meet with him, chris made time for them.

when children needed him, he made time for them. the week before he died, his wife was marveling at how he could make time for so many different aspects of his work while making time for his family and still squeezing in time for the children and veterans in need. he shrugged and simply replied, speaks volumes of his character. kids and vets, right, babe? well, chris was working hard, juggling many different things to make a living for his family. he worked hard mostly because he already made the decision to give away more money that he had earned in his lifetime in order to support the families of the fallen. i think that says a lot about chris. chris wouldn't be caught up -- wasn't caught up in material things or honors. chris was every day out of service. it's now my honor to recognize another great texan, my neighbor to the south, the gentleman from texas, mr. conaway. mr. conaway: i thank the gentleman for yielding some time and allowing me to add my

inadequate words and thoughts for chris and his family. i purchased chris' book a long time ago, but i -- as things go, i just hadn't read it. so after he was murdered a week or so ago i read his book. it was a very unsettling experience to -- the book is written in what appears to be chris' voice. i never met chris so i didn't know what he sounded like when he spoke but it is written in a very conversational tone. it's almost like you're having a conversation with chris and you're reading and you're caught up in the stories and you're caught up in the action and then you go, oh, he was murdered several days ago. chris' tile of talking about himself and the things he did on behalf of his country were very self-deprecating, very matter of fact. i'm sure he talked about coming close to being heard or coming close to near death experience to sugarcoat it for what the

real deal was because he didn't know what his wife and family -- certainly wouldn't be bragging about that, anyway. but chris had a matter of fact tone when he was with the seals and he was in that -- in those battles. and even when he was home he had a -- not -- casual is the wrong word but a very matter of fact attitude of the opportunity he would get killed, that something bad happened to them. he often spoke in the book often about his faith and a guardian angel. one instance where he just moved differently than he normally would move and a bullet went right where he had been. that's a holy spirit kind of thing, it wasn't chris' time. so you read through that book but you know chris has been taken from us, he was murdered and america has lost one of her very, very best to have worn our colors and to have served. i think the thing that comes out in the story of the book that he and his wife struggled

that was the most impressive about it was how torn he was between duty to country and duty to family. he was clear his first duty was to god but he was legitimately torn between the responsibilities to not only himself but his men and the others under his watch care and those he protected by killing bad guys before they had a chance to kill our guys and that role he played, he relished it, he cherished it, he wanted to do it. but he also began to recognize and see the impact it was having on his wife and kids. so the struggles he went through trying to come to the decision, do i give up something that i really love to do and i feel like it's my duty to do it and i will have abandoned my friends if i go in a different direction, how difficult a decision it was for him and his family. but he ultimately decided that god's direction for him was that he'd be a full-time father and a full-time husband to his

wife and a sense of loss and from leaving the service, leaving the seals. and truth of the matter is he was in a period of our country, not likely to ever be repeated again and certainly hope not. the way he spoke about the opportunity to lay his life down for others as very matter of fact and he was willing certainly to do that. i, too, as randy talked about the families, they are a little unsung. i get a taste of this. the way -- i made multiple trips. my wife, suzanne, is just a basket case when i am in country and they never take members of congress scary. they never do that. helicopter failure or something. for the most part they don't take us anywhere scary. she doesn't know that. i know we wear suits and ties

and it's fine. she doesn't. as soon as she knew that i could get the sense of relief in her. that gives me a sense of what these families did for 12 years now across the board. their loved ones -- as far as their family is concerned, it's a 24/7 risk. the loved one knows when it's scary or not and knows when things are going crazy but the family is dreading the phone call. not the phone call. the car pulling upfront because they know their loved one can get killed. and the strength of the family to support them throughout this time frame where we asked them to do far more for this country than should have been asked of any individual. yes, it's an all-volunteer force and they continue to reenlist, but they recognize they do it. i brag on the families because

that's really where the strength of america is shown. and families being able to back chris up and the things he was trying to do to make sure he was able to do downrange all he needed to do without worrying about what was going on back home. it is so difficult to lose someone like chris. we had a -- wonderful organization in midland, texas, show of support, like chris was doing after he got out. in this instance, we take wounded vets on hunts, deer hunts. they bring them into town and they take the wives on a shopping spree and take the husbands hunting. this past year they were in a parade headed down to the bane get and a -- banquet. a float was hit by a train and four of these men were killed. men that already had wounds of war that showed up in their lives every single day were -- they were killed.

one was killed pushing his wife out of harm's way. so losing those four that -- the personal experience we think we feel with chris, and we don't, but we do because he's one of our best and one of those who's done far more for our country than we should ask, does feel personal. i ask people around memorial day every year, we thank our country and we thank folks who sacrificed for our country but it's generally in a generic, generally as a group. when i ask people, i want you to pick out somebody specific. i want you to think about somebody who we're memorializing today who have actually laid down their life in defense of this country, i want it to hurt a little bit, i want it to cause something for you to say -- things we say very casually on memorial day. so i now have someone else that i can think about on memorial day when we all, as we should as a country recognize these collective sacrifices. but sometimes when you

recognize them in the collective it loses the impact. so i would encourage folks to recognize those sacrifices in a specific by picking out somebody that went to high school that was killed in vietnam, my case, or someone that you know, family member, whatever, that you can say, all right, it ought hurt just a little bit. i want to thank the gentleman for giving me a chance to add i, as i mentioned earlier, inadequate thoughts on chris and his dedication to his country and sacrifice and wish god speed to his family as they cope with chris' absence in this life. so thank you that and i yield back. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman. i think one of the things if chris was here and he was standing next to me and he would say, randy, you need to talk about my team members because he was a navy seal. if you read the book or if you talk to a navy seal, when i would visit with chris, the seal team because of the things that they do together, they have to trust each other explicitly.

he lost some team members while he was serving our country he grieved over that. he thought about them a lot. and one of his teammates sent me an email that says chris kyle is an american hero that will be sorely missed by his brothers in arms. the great state of texas and the entire united states of america -- by his brothers in arms, the great state of texas and the entire united states of america. i urge you to take joy in his life and appreciate the time he was with us and may we continue chris' willingcy of service to one another and support our wounded veterans that are battling with ptsd. thank you to everyone for their support and prayers, god bless america. and now it's my pleasure to

recognize the gentlewoman from the fort worth area who has spent a lot of her career in congress helping to make sure that our soldiers have the things they need and supporting them and i now recognize ms. granger from texas. ms. granger: thank you very much. thank you for giving us the opportunity to rise today to honor a true american hero, chris kyle, retired navy seal, chief petty officer, killed in glen rose, texas, on february. chris kyle basically -- heroically defended his country through four tours of duty in iraq rah where he participated in major battles throughout the country. he was the single deadliest sniper in the history of the united states military. chris kyle was shot twice in the fighting and was in six separate i.e.d. explosions but he never received a purple heart because he didn't want to

be separated from his unit while the paperwork was being processed. his accomplishments extend far beyond the battlefield. after 10 years service as a seal, he retired from the navy to focus on his family. he continued to train military personnel and security staff and he wrote a book documenting his time in combat which one of the members talked about. but rather than keep the proceeds from the sale of the book, he donated the money to the families of two fellow seal members who had fallen in battle. on february 2, chris and his friend, chad littlefield, were tragically killed by a veteran they sought to help. the act of vinyl may have taken mr. kyle's life but doesn't erase the legacy he leaves behind. he is survived by his wife and two young children he lives on through his family, through the lives he save through terrorism

and combat, and through the veterans he helped. he continues to be a source of inspiration to all who know his story. on february 11, more than 700 people from -- 7,000 people from around the country gathered in cowboys stadium for his memorial service. hundreds more braved bad weather to line roads and highways to honor chris by watching his funeral procession on the way to the texas state cemetery. it was a fitting tribute to a man who touched the lives of so many and will continue to do so even after his death. this country owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to chris kyle for his selfless service to his country both on and off the battlefield. his heroism and the heroism of all his fellow veterans will never be forgotten. my thoughts and prayers are with his wife, his children, his family and friends, and especially his teammates. i yield back.

mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentlewoman. it was mentioned after chris left the seal team, he came to texas and formed a company called craft international and the c.e.o. of that company is a gentleman by the name of steven young he sent this email. chris was a true american hero, having devoted his adult life to serving his country in combat as a member of the u.s. navy seals and in training military and law enforcement personnel after leaving the navy. chris was also an extremely devoted family man, a wonderful husband and loving father he gave so much of his time to charitable causes that assisted military personnel and their families and died while trying to help a struggling service member. we were all saddened by his tragic death. america lost one of its finest sons and a true patriot. i think again there's a common theme here. chris was always doing things for other people. it was mentioned when someone was involved in a hurricane, chris was saying, do i need to come all the way to new york to

help you? that was his motto is he was service oriented. it's now my pleasure to recognize another great texan, one of our newer members of congress, mr. blake farenthold from texas. i yield. mr. farenthold: you keep saying another great texan. that's redundant. if you say -- mr. barton: you keep saying another great texan, that's redun dabt. request you say texan, it's implied they are great. mr. neugebauer: ok. mr. farenthold: i am honored to be up here even though it's a solemn occasion. i didn't have the pleasure of knowing chris kyle but as i heard my fellow congressmen speak of him and as many americans have got ton know him through his book, it is a true testament to the american

soldier and to the traditions of our military that chris, after heroic and valiant service to our country, comes back and instead of just fading, he goes and continues to help his fellow servicemen and the tragedy associated with his death, helping another, is heart wrenching but it does call to mind the greatest traditions and values of america as manifested through our service. he was doing just that when he was killed by a fellow veteran he was trying to help. we in this country and in congress have worked hard to provide health care, including mental health care for our veterans. we are growing and expanding that service through the v.a. now. just last week, i toured a new facility in my hometown of

corpus christi a new v.a. clinic with a large area devoted just to treating some of the psychological problems that many of our veterans come home with after the horrors of war. and it's something that we need to continue to do as a country and it's something we need to continue to do as americans. though the result of chief kyle's health was -- help was tragic, it doesn't children in our responsibility and our duty to help our fellow americans and especially our heroes who are suffering. we can do that in a wide is a ryity of ways. we're doing it in congress the way congress does things, we're enacting laws, appropriating money, we're doing programs. but helping on a very personal level is something that we need to continue to do and that is a legacy of chief kyle. i was reading a "dallas morning

news" article this morning about the kind of funeral that he received, 200 patriot guard riders accompanying the funeral procession from the memorial service that was held at cowboys stadium in dallas, texas, to his burial in a place of honor in the texas state cemetery, right in the center of the cemetery, this just is indicative of how we as texans and we as americans feel about our servicemen. they deserve our honor and respect and i'm proud that texas and america has turned out for chris kyle. i want to add my and my family's prayers to those of the roves this congress for chris' wife and their children and the entire kyle family. we as a nation have a profound sense of gratitude for our service men and women. it's our responsibility to care

for them when they return home. i yield back. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman. a couple of other emails here, this is from jeff staubach, he was a very -- he was very appreciative of his friends and families and never hesitated to thank me for the smallest gesture. we were lucky to have him fighting for us, risking his life for us. i emailed him and said we should go get a beer, then it was thanksgiving, then christmas, we never got another beer. i wish we could grab another beer and talk about what the cowboys would do this fall and when we'd go shoot together. i imagine what chris would tell us today because he was putting his life on the line every day, is that every day is precious, every day is a gift from god and we must be a good steward of that gift he gives us. chris kyle, the day he left us,

left his house, thought he'd go out and shoot, maybe help this young man and unfortunately, actually lost his life doing that. mark spicer, another friend, said, i want to ask chris why he chose the steels and he said he had been told it was the hardest to get into and that typified chris kyle that we all knew. chris would hit any challenge head on and never flinch from hard work and the unselfish devotion to those around him. it's now my pleasure to recognize one of our newer members from the texas delegation, mr. steve stockman. mr. stockman is recognized. mr. stockman: thank you. thank you for offering this opportunity to honor a gentleman, a texas nan who -- texan who demonstrated beyond any belief that he is dedicated to his country. after he served he could have walked out and done other

things. instead, chris took it upon himself to have compassion. for his fellow soldiers. and in that process, he gave up the ultimate sacrifice. his life. he's an american hero and i offer my deepest sympathy to his wife and his two children. he served our nation courageously. and served with multiple injuries during four tours of iraq. chris retired in 2009 to spend more time with his family. on top of being a warrior, he was a christian, a son, a husband, and a father. on behalf of myself, my wife patty, our hearts go out to her and her family. our nation will never forget, forever be grateful, to chris' service and for chris' undying

belief in christ and sharing his testimony. chris was the kind of humble and kind man that always put the needs of others before himself. chris continued his passion with his nonprofit called fitco cares, which provided in home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans. i'd like to say to chris, if -- i know he's upstairs listening to us with god, and with his lord, that we are so honored and deeply touched that you gave your entire life for this nation. and that you have set an example for all of us in this house on how to behave and he's an individual that we say nowaddaiings we don't have many heroes but he's a true hero. he's not a pop star, he's not

something that's glitter he did his work. and his dedication in the silence that not many people knew until his passing. i yield back the balance of my time. but we all should look to him as a leader and a hero that we're bless wed had him on the earth and one day we'll all see him again. thank you. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman. another friend of chris' said, you are the definition of a true american hero, you are also the definition of a true friend. from the late nights to the early mornings, you could always make me laugh. you have ever changed my life and many others. you will forever be missed. but never forgotten. we miss you brother, kevin. another friend of chris' is david fara -- is david feherty,

who has been involved in the wounded warrior program and was a friend of chris'. an excerpt from his email. think upon this tonight, i think he's talking to all of us, think upon this tonight as you lay yourselves down to rest and be thankful for the life and the service of chris kyle, whose spirit lives on in the lives of those lucky enough to have known that sweet-hearted, straight-shooting texas prince. may he rest in peace and our sor oh turn quickly to happy memories. david feherty. it's now my pleasure to recognize a fellow texan who also served our nation and the navy and it's my pleasure to recognize the gentleman from texas, mr. olson. mr. olson: i thank the gentleman from lubbock.

i rise to pay honor to my fellow squab, chris kyle. he is much more than the sum of his parts. he lived his life the way he chied, in defense of our country and helping his fellow man in their time of need. assigned to seal team three within the naval special warfare command, the seals, with over four tours of duty, chris served in every major battle of operation iraqi freedom. his service and sacrifice on behalf of america is well known . what is lesser known is his humanity, as a dwote husband and loving father. he had a bright future ahead of him. he was on track to become a master chief petty officer. maybe even the master chief

petty officer of the whole united states navy, the first time a seal would hold that title. but he stepped away from that career to devote his time to a higher priority -- to his children and his wife. he was active in helping sailors and other veterans with their transition back to civilian life. chris had a nonprofit organization which created the heroes project. it provides free and home fitness equipment, programs, personal training and life coaching to any veteran with disabilities, gold star families, those are families who lost a loved one in combat, or those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. he was always willing to lend a helping hand. today, texas honors our native

son, chris kyle. as someone who wore the same uniform, i am deeply proud of his commitment to god, family and our country. he was an american patriot, a defender of liberty, a husband and a father. the grateful nation mourns the man who was taken too soon. may god bless chris kyle's wife, tea, his children, his family and all who loved him. i'm sure that in heaven chris kyle is looking over his family and us. chris, i wish you fair wind and falling seas. if chris were here today, i'd thank him, but the gift he gave -- for the gift he gave me and my wife, nancy.

i knew that if i were shot down and fortunate enough to survive the crash, chris kyle would come get me and take me home from wherever i was in the world regardless of the challenges. we lost an american hero. chris kyle, i salute you. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman. one of the things that chris liked was -- he liked the law enforcement, people -- he had a great deal of respect for them and they knew that he had respect for them because what he knew was just like he put himselves in harm's way on a daily basis that our first responders, our policemen and sheriffs and the state troopers that they put their lives on the line for our country and for our citizens as well. and this is a letter from dan parker, law enforcement officer. he said, i first met chris in

2010 at a ranch in texas. i was told before i met him of the truly incredible deeds he was involved in during the war in iraq as a soldier and a sniper and that he was a former seal. being a law enforcement sniper he was really -- i was really looking forward to meet him and unshare what to expect. what i found was a great man who is truly humble, down to earth and was a lot of fun to be around. i also found that chris truly loved his country and that his sacrifice much for it. it did -- and did not consider himself any type of hero but only doing his job with his god-given talents. chris also made it very clear that he felt a deep sense of responsibility to help any veteran or law enforcement officer he could. i want to recognize mr. barton for some remarks. mr. barton: thank you, congressman neugebauer. i think we have spent a good

deal of our time extending the honors of chris kyle and the gentleman that was murdered, mr. littlefield. i want to take a minute to brag on you a little bit. most people don't have very high opinion of the u.s. congress. luckily they think higher of their own congressman. i think we should acknowledge how hard you've worked to help the family in this time of need since you knew the family personally. you intervened with the pentagon if the family wanted to try to bury kyle at arlington cemetery. i know you personally interacted with the governor and his staff down in austin. my staff, obviously, since they are my constituents. you've gone above and beyond the normal requirements of a congressman to reach out and help because you feel that commitment personally and

professionally. i want to commend you. i also want to ask a question that i think you know the answer to. i have heard and read that an education fund has been established for kyle's children . is that true? mr. neugebauer: i believe that is correct. mr. barton: that being the case, it's certainly appropriate to honor the legacy, part of his children. i'd encourage minute who wishes to to get the address or the email and make a contribution so that the nation shows its respect for his service by making sure that his children have the education and that this country's capable of providing. i'd also encourage anyone that lives near his family to reach out and touch them personally.

i plan to see both the widows and see if i can be of personal assistance. and the last thing, obviously we're here to honor somebody who was exceptional in chris kyle, but as we speak, there are hundreds if not thousands of chris kyles on duty right now protecting us in afghanistan and ready to serve and ready to rescue. all of our service men and women, we should thank them when we see them. we should show their families here at home we support their service and we should dedicate ourselves today to making sure that our armed forces have the best equipment, the best training and if necessary the best rescue operations and their families get the very best while they're serving their country because we're here in freedom because of the

chris kyles and all that they've done and continue to do. again, just want to thank you, congressman, for your effort in this and organizing this and all you've tried to do to help the family. you are truly a gentleman and honorable in every sense of the word. i yield back. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman. i want to read a few more of these emails i got, and i'm reading excerpts. one of things i am going to do is put these in the record so that the kindness that a lot of people have shown and their love for chris can be reflected in our congressional record. this is from elizabeth robinson and she said, i only knew chris a little under three years, but in that time he stood up for me in one of the most confusing moments, gave me encouragement that helped push me into one of my toughest physical trials and entertain many a moment in the office with his fun, wantor and

laughs. he was a hero of such grand scale but that trickled in the everyday life and his shining character that made his everyday encounters with him special. i think that's one of the things about chris that most of us will miss is chris' sense of humor. he was -- he had a great sense of humor. as i said, he didn't take himself seriously. and his sense of service. this is from nathan kirk. i moved -- i moved forward with sadness but equally with the competence in nolling the path to healing is through service to others as evident by the life of chris kyle. i will never fail you, chief. semper fi. this is from tommy hicks. he was a good father, a husband, a friend to many. but through his service to the navy impacted many others. more than he would ever imagine. he's a man everyone strives to be, a man who every american would want their son to be, a

man whom everyone owes a debt. may his testimony -- may his memory be served in generations as a role model to the youth of america. tommy hicks. and i'm going to close out our time by reading something that chris i think exemplifies chris and was a big part of his life and i think it's also says about what chris' in life was and that is the navy seal creed. it goes like this. in times of war or uncertainty, there's a special breed of warrior ready to answer our nation's call. a common man with uncommon desire to succeed. forged by adversity, he stands alongside america's finest special operation forces to serve his country. the american people and to protect their way of life. i am that man.

my triedent is a symbol of honor and heritage bestowed upon me by the heroes that have gone before and embodies the trust of those who i have sworn to protect by wearing the triedent, i accept the responsibility my chosen profession and way of life. it is a privilege i must earn every day. my loyalty to country and team is beyond reproach. i humbly serve as a guardian of my fellow americans ready to defend those who are unable to defend themselves. i do not advertise the nature of my work, nor do i seek recognition in my acts. i voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and the security of others before my own. i serve with honor on and off the battlefield. the ability to control my emotions and reactions regardless of circumstances sets me apart from other men.

uncompromising integrity is my integrity. my word is my bond. we expect to lead and to be led . in the absence of orders i will take charge, lead my teammate and accomplish the mission. i will lead by example in all situations. i will never quit, i will preserve and i will thrive on adversity. my nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. if knocked down i will get back up every time. i will draw on every ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. i will never -- i am never out of the fight. we demand discipline. we expect innovation. the lives of my teammates and the success of our mission depends on me. my technical skill, my tactical profishes and my attention to

-- proficiency and my attention to detail, my training is never complete. we train for war and we fight to win. i stand ready to bring the full spectrum of combat power to bear in order to achieve my mission and the goals established by my country. the execution of my duties will be swift and violent when required, yet guided by the very principles that i serve to defend. great men have fought and died defending the reputation that i am bound to uphold. in the worst of conditions, the legacy of my teammates steadies my resolve and silently guides my every deed. i will not fail. i think that sums up the life of chris kyle, and i will personally miss him, and my

thoughts and prayers go out to taya and the family and we're going to miss chris. but i think what chris' friends would say and what chris would say, you know what, if i made an impact in your life, go out and impact somebody else's life. may god bless chris kyle, may god bless you and may god bless the united states of america. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that mr. brady of texas and other legislators have five days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from the great state's time has expired.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces, without objection, one, that speaker's appointment of members of the permanent select committee on intelligence on february, 2013, is made notwithstanding the requirement of clause 11-a, 4-a of rule x. and, two, the speakers' appointment pursuant to clause 11 of rule x, laws 11 of rule 1, in the order of the house of january 3, 2013, and notwithstanding the requirement of clause 11-a-1-c of rule of the following members of the house to the permanent select committee on intelligence. the clerk: mr. thompson of california, ms. schakowsky of illinois, mr. langevin of rhode island, mr. schiff of california, mr. gutierrez of illinois, mr. pastor of arizona and mr. himes of connecticut. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the news to

>> i'm so many members after a late night last night. we were so pleased that he mentioned violence against women and recognized the leadership of vice president biden. as you know, yesterday, the senate passed a bill, mr. hoyer, our whip, would love to tell you the numbers, so i'll leave that to him to do, but here we are again, last year -- last night, the senate passed the violence against women act and we are calling the majority in the

house to bring the bill to the floor. delay is not an option. every moment of delay is harmful to women, a delay when so many women are forced to suffer in silence in the face of abuse. not an option when they fear for their lives in their homes. not an option when millions of the lgbt community, native americans and immigrants particularly with a delay in the house. there is no time to waste. so i'm going to yield to mr. hoyer. and he'll talk to you about the senate and whatever he wants to do. but i want to mention you will be hearing from some of the women leaders. gwen moore has been a champion and the author of this bill, the bill we had then, the companion bill we have in the house. congresswoman slaughter was a lead author of the bill when it

was initially authorized in the 1990's. congresswoman kirkpatrick has a large population of native americans in her district and can speak firsthand for the need of this legislation. and we are honored to be joined by the once-chairman, hopefully chairman of the judiciary committee, mr. conyers, our ranking member, who has been a leader on this issue as well. mr. hoyer. >> thank you very much, madam leader. i'm pleased to be here with all of you. there are mostly women on this platform. this is not a woman's issue. this is an everybody's issue. every father, every husband, every brother, this is an issue about everybody. yesterday, the senate once again passed a reauthorization of the violence against women act.

78-22. all the democrats voted for it. a majority of the republicans voted for it, and every woman member of the senate, republican or democrat voted for it. when i co-sponsored the original act in 1994, we had strong bipartisan support in both houses of congress. there is no reason and the senate is a perfect demonstration of this, why that shouldn't be the case today. majority leader cantor said during my colloquy on the floor last week that he cares deeply about women who are victims of violence, at risk, and i quote, we need to get them the relief, them being the women of our country, the relief that this bill offers. that's our priority. we must move and act on this bill, closed quote, of eric

cantor. i agree with mr. cantor and the house ought to act swiftly, asap to pass the senate's version which is supported by law enforcement, civil rights groups and those who care for victims of domestic violence. i strongly urge the majority leader, mr. cantor, and mr. boehner, to put this bill on the floor right away. one of the things the president said last night which i hope everybody agreed, the american people deserve a vote. they sent us here to act. some will vote no. some will vote aye but the american people deserve to have us the right to vote. i now yield to somebody who -- i was a co-sponsor of his, i should say it the right way. i was a co-sponsor of the violence against women act, 1994.

john conyers. [applause] >> thank you very much, steny hoyer. madam leader, and to all of the women that are here, i want to hear what they have to say. and so now that it's established that i was on the judiciary committee in 1994, was working on the measure in 1993. and we have now had over a year where this law has not been in effect. and we are proud of the fact that the president included it in his remarks of only yesterday. and so all i want you to know, in addition to what's already been said is failing to authorize this proven, effective legislation endanger the health and safety of women, children

and all victims of domestic violence and the needs of law enforcement and service providers. let's move now. now is the time. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mr. conyers. while we are celebrating the passage of the violence against women act and now it is time for the house to take up this bill. we have 201 co-sponsors of this bill and there is a letter circulated, signed by 17 republicans, who say that they want to join in a bipartisan way to pass the violence against women act. that is the magic number of 218. mr. cantor, there is an aspiration among members of the house, democrats and republicans to pass this bill. don't delay. please live up to what you have

said and we must move and act on this bill. now we have the chance. thank you. and i would yield to ms. slaughter, one of the original co-sponsors of the violence against women act in 1994. >> thank you so much, gwen, and i'm happy to be here today and with good news from the senate. in 1994 when we worked on this bill, this was not an issue talked about very much. it was an inside the family kind of thing so it wasn't so easy then to pass it. i had a chance to speak about it with the vice president last night and remind him of the fight we had gone through and pat and i were putting the bill together. and we are happy to have his assistance over in the senate to get that done. but i tell you the notion of what is going on here now is something that never occurred to us in 1994. the idea that certain categories of persons in this country would

be exempt from this kind of this protection is an an assault on our conscience and we can't live with that. the most important thing i want to tell you, the ranking member of the rules committee, i can assure you for the last three working weeks we have had here, we have worked on bills that were play, let's pretend and make believe we are doing something. nothing fits that category more than what we are going to do this afternoon. we will be through at 1:30 today and pass a rule tomorrow. we can't do suspensions, because it's not allowed and hang around here until friday. what we have to insist on is eric cantor put this bill on the floor and let us pass it and go home before friday. we know the president is anxious to sign it. i was greatly pleased and cheered by what our colleagues

did in the republican caucus. and if they don't do it right away, we should have a critical mass to get it done -- making sure we get it on the floor with 218. we have to get it done. it is disgraceful and does not say things good about us as americans that we allow this thing to go on uselessly. let me call on ms. kirkpatrick. >> i'm proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation and i'm hopeful that it will pass in a bipartisan vote. in arizona congressional district 1, we have 12 tribes, gnat i have americans make up 25% of the congressional district. unfortunately, native american women are 2 1/2 times, 2 1/2 times more likely to be assaulted in their lifetime than

any other woman in the united states. i was born and raised on tribal land on the white mountain apache nation and experienced firsthand the challenges that our tribal communities face. this legislation is important to my constituents. it strengthens tribal criminal jurisdiction over those who assault native american spouses and dating partners while on tribal land. it clarifies jurisdiction for civil orders of protection. it improves grant programs to help tribal communities. and it strengthens assault statutes. once again, we need to do all we can to keep victims safe and hold perpetrators accountable. i hope the house will work together to pass a strong bipartisan bill.

and i yield back to leader pelosi. [applause] >> thank you very much. i have to warn my colleagues that a vote has been called. over 300 members have not voted yet. so we have a few moments. i commend congresswoman gwen moore, and congresswoman louise slaughter and congresswoman kirkpatrick for their leadership on this issue. i do want to note and steny will remember this, that representative lowey and rosa delauro worked hard for the funding to this legislation and implemented it as well. so it was a time, though, when a lot of -- congresswoman slaughter said, this was silent. in my community, which is very diverse, i was hearing from advocates for demresk violence legislation and said our constituents will not talk about it.

it is a silent problem there. native american community, in the military, jack murtha was a hero and criticized for bringing up the subject that exists in the military. and now we know what the challenges are. this has been proved because of this legislation, many women and men have been protected from violence. what is the answer to the question of why is this bill not coming up? let's vote on it. with that, we will be pleased -- other than those who spoke would be resource to any questions you may have. >> has anyone here actually spoken with boehner or cantor about what they're doing? have you talked about it? >> i have talked to eric very briefly. eric has indicated that he wants to move this legislation.

indicated he talked to joe biden. he and vice president have a relationship coming out of their negotiations on the cliff. and -- but he also intimates, that a lot of his members have had problem which is why they haven't brought the bill to the floor. however, with the majority of the republicans in the united states senate, majority voting for it, it seems that there is little reason not to bring this legislation forward. it's been worked on hard and taken care of the funding issue that was the problem that was articulated why they didn't bring it to the floor. now there is no such impede meant and i would hope they would bring it to the floor. they could bring it to the floor this week, i doubt they'll do it but bring it the later we get

back. >> and another reason why we should not be taking a break. the sequester is on the horizon and we have the responsibility to work hard. yesterday, why can't we bring up that bipartisan, strongly-supported bill in the senate, bring it up in the house. so while they may have some members that have a problem with it, a number of the republican members have come to me and said we really need to do this bill. i don't want to vote against my leadership when we took the vote the last time but i do want to send a message that i know that this is a problem and i know we should pass the bill and i hope that that will weigh -- a number who do want something to happen,

will be as important as the number who do not want something to happen. if they don't want it to happen, at least take a vote. we could lose, or could win, but the american people will know. another question? >> the republicans actually -- and i don't know -- in terms is their problem there is a constitutional issue with native americans and tribal lands having concht being able to -- having sovreignty being able to prosecute. >> they are on tribal lands. >> it is a glaring hole in justice for native women who are being abused. in fact, we have heard reports

where perpetrators deliberately drag women back on tribal lands so they can circumvent justice. the counties or the state law enforcement have no jurisdiction on the tribal lands and the tribal courts have no jurisdiction while they're on tribal lands. so the solution, they say, is to go to federal court. there are 11 tribes in wisconsin, so you take bad river , for example, it's five hours away from a federal court. so what has happened is, of those rapes, sexual assaults, domestic violence breaches, 56% of them are not dealt with in the legal system. and of those 52%, 67% of them are sexual assaults. and you heard ann say earlier, representative kirk patrick say

earlier that it might speak volumes why 2 1/2 times as many -- as much violence against native american women, because perpetrators know that they can do this with impunity. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> here's a look at our prime time schedule. starting tonight at 8:00 eastern, the contirmmation hearing for jack lew. douglas elmendorf testifies on the budgetary outlook and on c-span3, senate armed services committee holds a hearing on a series of automatic spending cuts known as sequestration set to take place starting march 1.

>> after president-elect andrew jackson's wife died in december of 1848, her neice, assumed the role of first lady. >> emily was perfect. with all the negatives washington had to say about andrew jackson, they loved emily. she covered everything. the women all liked her and as it was to happen, the women's opinions meant more than people thought in washington. but emily became his acting first lady. she entertained beautifully. she was polished and some people thought she was russ particular from the country. >> emily donaldson, one of the women who served as first lady in the series "first ladies," in the first of its kind project for television. season one begins this monday,

presidents' day on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> after the state of the union address, president obama traveled to north carolina to highlight his proposals for creating jobs and spurring u.s. manufacturing. the president pushed for a higher minimum wage. the manufacturer employs 160 workers and plans to hire 40 more. the president's stop in north carolina is the first of three trips scheduled for this week. on thursday, the president is in atlanta. and friday, the president will travel to chicago. this is just over 20 minutes. ♪ ♪

>> hello everybody! hello, north carolina! it is good to be back. i love coming to asheville. love coming to asheville. michelle and i always talk about how, you know if after this whole presidency thing -- iowa! >> looking for a little spot to -- >> come on down! >> come on down, play a little golf, hiking, fishing, barbecue. there are two things that keep

bringing me back here. number one is i really like the people and number two is 12 bones where i will be stopping back on the way to the airport. now i want to start off by thanking straton for the wonderful introduction and what made it wonderful, not only did he do a great job, but it was brief. and i want to thank frank, and jim for hosting us and giving me a terrific tour of the plant. two elected officials are with us today. first is your mayor. [cheers and applause] >> plus, you have a wonderful mayor. and also congressman melwatt is here. [cheers and applause] >> last night, i delivered the

state of the union address. [cheers and applause] >> and i talked about steps we can take right now to strengthen our recovery, but also to buildup our middle class. and i said that while we are seeing some signs of solid progress, car sales are up, housing starting to recover, we're still a ways away from where we need to be. too many americans are out there every day pounding the pavement, looking for work. you guys probably know friends or family members that are pretty strapped and having a difficult time. and while it's true that corporate profits have skyrocketed to an all-time high, it's also true that for more than a decade now, wages and incomes haven't gone up at all, just about. so we've got a lot of work to do.

and our job -- and this is a job for everybody. it's not a democratic thing or republican thing. our job as americans is to restore that basic thing that says, if you work hard, if you are willing to meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead. you can get ahead. doesn't matter what you look like or where you come from. that's what we should be focused on, how do we make sure the people who are willing to work can make a decent living and look after their families, because the true engine of america's economic growth has always been our middle class. there are a lot of countries that have folks at the top doing real well and a bunch of folks at the bottom, but part of what set america apart was is ordinary folks, if they worked hard, they could do well. our middle class, when it's

growing, when it's thriving, ladders of opportunity for people to do a little bit better each year and make sure their kids are doing better than them, that's the american dream. that's what we got to fight for. that has to be the north star that guides everything we do. and as i said last night, we should be asking ourselves three questions, doesn't matter where whether you are in north carolina, texas, california or oregon, doesn't matter. wherever we are, three things we should be asking. number one, how do we bring more jobs to america. number two, how do we equip people with the skill they need to do those jobs. and number three, how do we make sure that once they have a job, it leads to a decent living. i believe we reward effort and determination with wages that allow working families to raise their kids and get ahead. [applause]

>> and that's part of the reason why i said last night that it's time for an increase in the minimum wage, because if you work full-time you shouldn't be in poverty. [applause] >> i also believe we provide our people with skills and training by education and it has to start early. i talked about making sure kids get an early childhood education and making sure our high schools are preparing our children for a high-tech economy and making sure that colleges are affordable and accessible for every single american. [applause] >> and i believe we have -- we attract new jobs to america by energy and infrastructure and next generation of high-wage, high-tech manufacturing.

i believe in manufacturing. i think it makes our country stronger. [applause] >> so that's what we can do together and that's why i wanted to come down here to asheville, because there's a good story to tell. i know that a good years ago, manufacturing comeback in north carolina, manufacturing comeback in asheville, may not have seemed real likely. volvo had just left town. this plant had gone dark. 228 jobs had vanished, and that was a big blow for this area, because of what happens is when those manufacturing jobs go away, suddenly the restaurant has fewer customers and suppliers for the plant start widthering and hard for everybody and has a ripple effect. then local officials start reaching out to companies,

offering new incentives to take over this plant. some of the workers who got laid off, went back to school and learned new skills. and then a year later, linamar showed up. they were looking for a place to build big parts. hubs and wheels and anchors for 400-ton mining trucks. and while they could have gone any place in the world, they saw this incredible potential right here in asheville. they saw the most promise in this work force. so they chose to invest in asheville, in north carolina, in the united states of america. [cheers and applause] >> so to date, linamar has hired

160 workers and will be 200 by the end of the year and it's going to keep ongoing after that. [applause] >> so, folks at linamar said they came to grow their business and put down some roots. what is happening here is happening all over the country because just as it is becoming more and more expensive to do places in china, america is getting more competitive and more productive. after shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have now added about 500,000 jobs over the past three years. [applause] >> and i mentioned this last night. catter pillar, which i know you guys supply, they are bringing jobs back from japan.

ford is bringing jobs back from mexico. intel is opening its most advanced plant here in the united states. apple is starting to make macs in america again. [applause] >> we are seeing this trend of what we call insourcing and not just outsourcing. america has outstanding workers and we are starting to produce more home-grown energy, which is driving down our energy costs and we have the biggest market in the world. and if we try to improve our infrastructure a little bit more, then we are going to be that more competitive. i want to be honest with you, we aren't go to go bring back every job that has been lost to automation in the last decade. i was talking to some of the guys showing me their facilities who had been in manufacturing

for 20 years and they explained how things have changed. used to be -- wanted to do the kind of stuff you guys are doing here. everything was done manually. now you have a computer and punching in stuff. so it's changed. and that means you can just produce a lot more with fewer people. but there are things we can do right now to accelerate the resurgence of american manufacturing. number one, we can create more centers for high tech manufacturing in america. last year, my administration created our first manufacturing innovation institute. we put it in youngstown, ohio, which had been hard hit when manufacturing started going overseas. and so you had a one shuttered warehouse and now a state of the

art lab where new workers are mastering what's called 3-d printing which has the potential to revolutionize the way we make everything. that's the future. and there's no reason that those same kinds of projects can't take root in other cities and towns. so last night, i announced the launch of three more institutes and i'm calling on congress to help us set up 15 institutes, global centers of high-tech jobs and advanced manufacturing around the country. [applause] >> companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas but companies that stay here get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. that doesn't make any sense. so what i'm proposing is that we reform our tax code, stop rewarding businesses that ship

jobs overseas. reward companies that are creating jobs right here in the united states of america. that makes sense. [applause] >> number three, if you are a manufacturing town, especially one that has taken a hit and seen the company close up shop or a plant shut down, i want to partner with local leaders to attract new investments because once that investment starts coming in, things can start turning around and research facilities get built and a community that was knocked down is getting back up and they are attracting new manufacturers who want to come, expand and hire. i want to focus on -- like when asheville lost volvo, we have to come in here real quick and figure out, what is it we need to attract a new employer. number four, we've got to help

our workers get the training to compete for the industries of tomorrow. you know, at least a couple of the guys that i had a chance to meet as we were taking the tour told me, they were out of work for a year, in one case, two years. in part because we kept unemployment insurance in place so folks could get back on their feet and were able to go back to school. and now are now gainfully employed. no job in america should go unfilled because somebody doesn't have the right skills to get that job. nobody. [applause] so if there's a job opened, we should train those folks right away so they can do the job. that's why i'm proposing a national goal of training two million americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. and we know this works. you know, after linamar came to

town, they started working with one of the community colleges here in asheville -- [applause] >> and the college and linamar did something that is really smart. some cases not kids, but older workers, show up and they are taking a bunch of classes, but doesn't know how it's going to lead to a job. you customize the class to train people so they can come and work at the plant and they're getting experience that's directly applicable to what's being done here at the job. [applause] >> that's good for the community. it's good for linamar because they are getting workers they know can do the job, and it's good for the folks going to the community college because if

they work hard, there's a job waiting for them. it's good for the economy as a whole. those are four commonsense steps that we can take right now to strengthen manufacturing in america. there's no magic bullet here, just some commonsense stuff. people still have to work hard. companies still have to make good products but the point is if we can just do a few things, then over time we start rebuilding our manufacturing base in a way that strengthens our economy as a whole. now i'm doing what i can just through administrative action, but i need congress to help. i need congress to do their part. i need congress to do their part. [applause] >> i need congress to take up these initiatives, because we have come too far and worked too

hard to turn back now. thinking about what this city and all of you have been through the last few years. think about folks like jeff brown. jeff was in the trucking industry for over a decade. two years ago, he got laid off. lost his job as a diesel mechanic. that's a tough thing to go through even though jeff's a pretty tough guy, but he bounced back and decided it was time to change careers and time to get new skills and went to a.b. tech and took a place in automated machinery and got his dip plow -- diploma and interviewed and by friday, he was working as a machine operator. where is jeff? there he is, right here. [applause] >> now, i think he is pretty

good at interviews, because, you know, he just got hired like that. i hope he can give me some advice. [laughter] >> but here's the thing. the reason jeff did all that, a lot of was to support himself and his family but wasn't to punch a clock or pick up a pay check from a new company, it was to make sure he could have a better future for his family and his community and his country. jeff said, getting my foot in the door has opened my eyes to bigger horizons, and i want to keep ongoing. i want to keep ongoing. [applause] >> so, that's our story. that's the american story. we don't give up, we get up, we innovate, we adapt, we learn new skills, we keep going. and i just want everybody here

to know at this plant, that everybody in asheville, everybody in north carolina and everybody across the country, i want you to know as long as you are out here fighting every day to better your lives and the lives of your children, i will be back in washington fighting for you. i will be back there fighting for you, because there's nothing we can't do and no possibilities we can't reach when we're working together. we just have to work together. and we have to stop with some of the politics that we see in washington sometimes that's focused on who's up and who's down and let's just focus on the same kind of common sense and cooperation that we are seeing at this plant and we see all across the country. all right? thank you, everybody. god bless you and god bless america. [cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> starting tonight at 8:00

p.m., conformation hearing on jack lew. and then dr. elmendorf testifies on the economic and budgetary outlook and there is a hearing on automatic spending cuts known as sequestration set to take place starting march 1. >> he thought she was the smartest person he ever knew and he knew how much she loved him and he knew that she would tell him the truth. she wasn't going to -- she wasn't going to sugar coat and one of the tapes that i absolutely love that came out is the one where she is analyzing his speech. she was really tough on him and started out nice -- >> started out nice.

>> mother would always start off nice, but she -- no, i think you should do -- you know. and he would tell me all the time and said your mother has the best judgment of anybody. you should always listen to your mother. and he was just devoted to her. >> remembering lady johnson, part of a three-day presidents' weekend sunday night on c-span3 america's history tv. >> we have a habit in this country if i may this now of glossing over presidents. we decide that they are bald eagles and they have to be treated as if they are symbols of the country. what that means, though, is you have a -- you have a smooth over of their rough edges. and there's a feeling among modern presidents that they have

a right to a certain veneration and it will be located in their presidential library and even if they're gone, their children and former allies, their lieutenants who live longer than presidents, they continue this. in fact, in many ways, they are even more committed to the legacy, not only because it involves them but because the old man is gn and want to show their loyalty. the problem is, what does the government do, because it's responsible for these libraries when you have a flawed president? >> in part two of the conversation, timothy naftali talks about the problems he had indirecting the nixon presidential library. >> 750,000 jobs will be lost this year. if congress doesn't reach agreement to avoid automatic spending cuts known as

sequestration. douglas elmendorf gave that estimate earlier today. he also said the 2013 will see slow economic growth and that any improvements will be offset by cuts to federal spending that congress will be forced to enact. this hearing runs about two hours, 15 minutes. . . >> good morning everyone and welcome the first part of our meeting is to organize the committee, that's why we don't have dr. elmendorf at his chair and here to adopt the committee rules and oversight plan. before introducing our new